After girl assaulted by Hoggard classmate, family awaits federal decision

Tuesday

Sep 5, 2017 at 4:24 PMSep 5, 2017 at 9:38 PM

The Johnsons filed complaints against New Hanover County Schools with the US Department of Education

By Cammie Bellamy StarNews Staff

WILMINGTON -- The Johnson family's ordeal began two and a half years ago, when daughter Sarah was sexually assaulted in her bed by a Hoggard High School classmate. Since March 2015, life has been a flurry of lawsuits, investigations, letters from lawyers and federal complaints -- enough paperwork to fill a heavy and fraying manila envelope.

But Randy Johnson, Sarah's father, hopes that in the next few weeks the case will take a step forward. The family filed two complaints against New Hanover County Schools with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), alleging it failed to address Sarah's assault in a fair and timely manner and that it retaliated against Johnson for filing the initial complaint.

Sarah's case was covered in detail in an investigative story by Port City Daily this June. The StarNews does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, but the Johnson family has said they want to raise awareness about sexual assault.

"One complaint is supposed to be hopefully done by the end of this month," Randy Johnson said. "Once that disposition is done, then we will sit down with our attorney and figure out what direction we’re going to go in from there."

'What did you do for the victim?'

Three months after the assault, on July 2, 2015, Sarah's assailant signed a statement of admission and responsibility on a charge of sexual battery. By court order he was forced to leave Hoggard and transferred to Ashley High School.

That transfer came, Johnson said, after weeks of asking New Hanover County Schools to keep the assailant away from his daughter. At one point, Johnson said his daughter was shown alternative school entrances that would allow her to avoid the young man. The Johnsons made school officials aware of the assault April 6 and the young man was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery April 21, but the district declined to suspend him. In fact, district legal counsel Wayne Bullard suggested in one letter to the family and its attorney that Sarah could transfer if she felt unsafe.

The young man was a football and basketball player at Hoggard and then at Ashley after he was forced to transfer, something Johnson thinks influenced school officials' actions.

"Magically, within a week, he had transferred to Ashley High School and was out there participating in athletics like nothing happened," he said. "You bend over backwards to make sure this kid stays in school and can participate in sports. He’s the perpetrator, what did you do for the victim? Not one single thing from the day we started the complaint up until now. We had to force them to do the things that they’ve done."

Schools spokeswoman Valita Quattlebaum wrote in an email that officials could not comment on the details of the case, but that they were waiting on a final response from the Department of Education.

"Regarding the Johnson case, New Hanover County Schools has fully cooperated with the Office of Civil Rights on both investigations and followed all appropriate procedures," she wrote. "In addition, the district has denied any wrongdoing and stands by the handling of the situation. We have responded to all questions, however, we have not received a final response from OCR. The district will continue to cooperate with them in the future."

Hoggard football coach Craig Underwood, who was a character witness for the assailant during legal proceedings, did not return multiple calls and a message seeking comment.

Next steps

The family filed its first OCR complaint that November. The second -- alleging the district retaliated against the family -- came in 2016 after a basketball game in which an Ashley coach accused Randy Johnson of calling him an anti-gay slur. As a law enforcement officer, Johnson underwent an internal affairs investigation but was cleared.

Johnson expects the OCR to respond to the retaliation complaint this month; he's hopeful the other OCR investigation will close later this year. If OCR determines the school district violated Title IX -- the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in education -- the Johnsons could take legal action in federal or state court. Even if OCR finds the district did nothing wrong, Johnson said the families attorney is looking into whether state laws were broken.

Two and a half years after she was assaulted, Sarah is a freshman at Coastal Carolina University. She lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had to finish her high school classes online.

Randy Johnson said whatever happens with its daughter's case, it's emblematic of a "nationwide epidemic." He pointed to ongoing sexual assault investigations at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and N.C. State dismissing or suspending five football players just this month after a party that ended in sexual assault investigations.

A few months back, Sarah sat down with her parents and asked them what happened to girls assaulted by classmates who don't have the support system that she did.

"I said, 'Unfortunately sweetie, they get lost in the shuffle, and the school wins,' " Randy Johnson said. "Because ultimately at the end of the day, the goal is to make sure that you just go away."

Reporter Cammie Bellamy can be reached at 910-343-2339 or Cammie.Bellamy@StarNewsOnline.com.

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